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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why are Americans so obsessed with kids sports?  I am just baffled.  All these parents worried that if they don't start X sport at 5, then their kid won't have a chance of making their HS team.  Really, who cares?  What am I missing.  Team sports are a giant pain in the ass.  There are so many other activities kids could be doing that are easier to schedule.  I get that it's great to be on a team and it has positive benefits etc but that applies to a rec team, or any other activity that has been sacrificed to do the team sport (an instrument, individual sport, more focus on academics, more sleep, less stress). [/quote]

Competitive sports are hardly a uniquely American concept. World-wide, people are raising competitors. Look at the Russian (or sub Chinese, Japanese or Korean) figure skating programs, soccer academies, ski teams, ice hockey in Canada, etc.  If you're not an athlete, then you don't get it, and you opt into whatever sports or other interests require the least amount of sacrifices.    [/quote]

I notice parents use the word Athlete pretty loosely.  Russia, China, and other countries hand pick kids who are clearly in the top 1% in all aspects of what it takes to be an athlete.   In Canada kids play hockey in the frozen lake down the street as soon as they can walk.

This is America where the kids are made to believe that all they need is hard work and they will be an athlete wanted by colleges and then maybe pro. So parents sign their kid up for private coaching even though they are doing just fine on their team.  They play a sport year round in different places.    They think their kid is a talented athlete.  Maybe but probably not.

Big business gives a lot of kids false hope so they continue to pay them money.   [/quote]

I don’t know one kid whose parents think their kid is going to play pro. My kids’ friends want to play in high school. Very few may play in college.[/quote]

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